The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-07-20
SCANDALS IN ROYAL LIFE
Gossip About King Milan's Domestic AZ
airs and Those of Duchess D'Alenc0n.
ure-The Campos Abduction" Casa
Duchess's Temporary Mental Alteration.

tnez Campos; the Baron is represented
much putupon martyr of parental greed for
gold whereas he ia simply iunatic, who ought
to have been shut up any time these five years,
and who is, very properly, sequestrated by his
family to save the remains of his once splendid
fortune from the sharks and sharpers into
whose clutches he had fallen the Spanish sDip-
ster was the half coasentant half unwilling VIC
tim OF BLACKBOARD cievalier d'industrie. The
fortune Of Senorita Mercedes, instead of amount
ing to $500 900. does not quite reach the sum
of 5000 000f.; instead of any one 'ascertaining'
that her ravisher is the .'viscourt de Latour
Garboef," every one. from the outset of the alb
duction knows that the creatures name was
Mielvacque; that his father is a retired baiif in
tho south of France; that he himself, until dis
missed from Office for outside debts was copy
ing clerk at the Chamber of Deputies, and that
his names Of Lacour-not Latour-and Gar
boeuf were. like his title of viscount self
bestowed. It has been dirty business
all through, managed by band Of kidnappers.
not one of whom has right to the patronymic
which he puts upon his cards. vulgar plagiarists
of alzacs Treize by whom heiresses are to be
kidnapped into matrimony, and to whom
financial compensation is to to be made from the
dowres of the abducted ones. It was joint
stock company. MieIvacque and company, of
which the members contributed according to their
means--anything from IF. to 200f., accept
ed-and if you doubt the nature of the business
please read the following letter of its Chair
man. furnished by quondam pal" who has
turned States evidence.
MY Dear Friend: I am sadly in want OF
clothes, for / expected next week at the
Countess X s. Besides that affair have an
other excellent one in view. The fortune teller
Nine Ludovic has helped me to the acquaint-
ance OF widow living at Fontaineb leau, and
who has at least 600, O00t. year. She is an
excellent lady, and who insists strongly upon
my going there. Two hundred francs would
be welcome. for the journey to Fontaine-
bleau costs IT. Soc, and as much to come back.
and then there are gloves and other things.
This letter is signed by Mielvacque. and can
be produced by lawyer who holds it, but it
seems that the Fontanebleau excursion was
failure. so the members of the tontlne went for
credulous Mercedes, also a widow, but with a
living husband. Happy Mielvacque! Lucky De
Lacour! Envable Garbnuf! wonder whether
Nine. Ludovc the promoter of that affair
alsoa There's nothing like high toned acquaint-
ances to assure success in Paris, and You have
no idea of the number of marriages that are
negotiated by fortune-tellers and corn doctors.
The times are past since the priests were Hy-
mems intermedians, and, as You see from this in
cidenr, the Cartonancians have inherited the
influence lost by the clergy.
But thu adventures of the Spanish girl, being
ten days old, have ceased to attract attention,
and. just now, it is the Queen of Servia and her
odyssey in the Crimea which give copy to chron-
play at Henry WILL in miniature, wants to
pudiate the beautiful and impeccable lady whose
enormous fortune he has squandered. The
Queen, by whom he has one son, refusing to
submit to the caprice of her spouse, went to the
Crimea, there to seek aid and protection from
the Russian Court where, given the admirable
unity of the Gear with his Empress. her cause
was gained before she had presented the recital
of her wrongs. How she was received the tele-
graph has told you, and probably some tele-
graphist, may have added. as / do now, that on
B0lQra00
night, the wretched puppet Obrenovitch will be
hidden to choose between a reconciliation and an
abdicaton. Evidently he will keep his wife so
as to keep his crown. but it is easy to foresee
the ephemeral character of this make up" and
to predict that the royal house of Serviai is not
near the end of those lamentable scenes and
miserable intrigues of which il has for some
months beer the theater.
Milan has 80 do with a very determined wom-
an, for Queen Nathalie has all the indonlitable
energy Of her late father. Colonel Kechko who
left the Russian service after duel with Mar
tinof, by whom was killed the Russian novelist,
Lermontoff Colonel Kechko. one Of the hand
soonest men OF his generation, inherited colos-
sal fortune from his father. very wealthy
bouard of Bessarabia He was highly educated.
of very polished manners, and favorite in the
highest social circles of every capital in Europe
whore his adventures and duels were sensa-
tional as any ever recorded in romance. One Of
these last was with Prince Dolgorouky, tho man
who was SO notorious for his quarrels with the
Russian government and his Hbels upon the
Moronzoff family. The Prince gave q revolu-
tionary toast at a dinner table, Kechko took it
up and Queen Nathalie's father severely wound
ed his adversary, just as he had previously done
ried the Princess Pucherie Stouadzar, and from
that moment his romance was confined to his
freside He was devoted husband and father,
and one of his four children four girls and
boy, the eldest is she about whom tho CONT
mental chancelloriss exercised.
Nine. Kechko died soon after the colonel leaving
the orphans to the care Of her sister, Princess
Constantin Mouronzi, with whom co-guar-
dams were Messrs. Krista and Manonckbey, rich
Bessaraoian landowners. who so admirably ad-
ministered their wards fortune that it reached
enormous figure, when was proposed to the
lovely heiress the alliance of Milan Obrenovitch.
Prince in name, but really only vassal Of the
Osmanli
Great were the reioicings at Belgrade over this
ALLAN ce promoted by Russia, in which the Ser
vians earnest of future support in their
projected war for independence. But it was new
happy union; as far back as 1876 when
in Belgrade. discord was rife in the princely
household where every admitted that the
beautiful lady who received SO courteouslv at
the kouak was ever much too good for the
man whom she had welded. Her qualities, and |
no one has credited her with a defect. were
constant, living reproaches to the lazy, unener- |
getic brute who only inherited the low coarse |
ness and cunning of his grandfather. the swine
herd but lacked that bravery which made tho |
original Obrenovitch rival of Kara George In |
the first war for Servias freedom, in 1928 The |
predecessors of Milan were always ready to risk |
their lives; they were truculent rufans. but they
were brave. Milan himself is a coward, and on |
every occasion when he was wanted he was not |
of danger it was because he could not help him |
self On the other hand, in 1876. in 1873, and |
again in the Servo Bulgarian war. Queen Ma |
thalie ALWAYS in the front. setting the exam
pie of courage and devotion |
which have endeared her to her sub |
jects, whose language, highly metaphorical |
as 1t is falls short in the expression of all the
contempt felt, popularity for this tool OF Aus |
tria, who, were he native OF our sunny South, |
would surely be designated by some old colored |
lady as a s.wuffiess yaller boy" And SO do not |
be astonished If You read ere long how the Ser |
Wan crown has passed from the head, little fit
to wear it, of Milan Obrenovitch TO that OF his I
son Alexander, the Cars godson. with Nathalie |
Kechko as queen regent. and Nj. Ristich as |
chief counsellor. The example of Maria Chris |
tina of Spain, is thus TO show that the head of |
a woman can govern q nation and safeguard q |
dynasty.